We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
352 of its 369 stories (95%) were about people being harmed, usually 71%. Hunga accounted for 104 of Tonga's 352 stories about harm, carried by 138 outlets. Reports of people killed ran at about 5 times the usual rate (97 stories). Drownings were named in 73 of its stories about harm, about 6 times usual. Grief in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
205 of its 543 stories (38%) were about people being harmed, usually 23%. Abu Dhabi accounted for 136 of the United Arab Emirates' 205 stories about harm, carried by 250 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at more than ten times the usual rate (74 stories). Hunger was named in 19 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's.
Khartoum accounted for 44 of Sudan's 60 stories about harm, carried by 76 outlets. 39 of Khartoum's 44 stories were about protests or strikes. Train derailment was named in 14 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
37 of its 107 stories (35%) were about people being harmed, usually 20%. Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (16 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
123 of its 212 stories (58%) were about people being harmed, usually 51%. Kabul accounted for 58 of Afghanistan's 123 stories about harm, carried by 69 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (24 stories). Earthquake was named in 24 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
107 of its 129 stories (83%) were about people being harmed, usually 60%. Reports of abductions ran at about 5 times the usual rate (14 stories). Its coverage was about 4 times as angry as the world's.
44 of its 118 stories (37%) were about people being harmed, usually 24%. Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (7 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's. Grief in its coverage rose to about twice its own usual.
61 of its 134 stories (46%) were about people being harmed, usually 36%. Tehran accounted for 36 of Iran's 61 stories about harm, carried by 32 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about twice the usual rate (9 stories).
22 of its 49 stories (45%) were about people being harmed, usually 35%. 3 of Lilongwe's 6 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (9 stories).
26 of its 41 stories (63%) were about people being harmed, usually 42%. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (5 stories).
Also named far more than usual: drownings in Peru (12 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); earthquake in Afghanistan (24 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); snowstorms in Canada (75 of its stories, about 8 times its usual); earthquake in Japan (19 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); poisoning in Russia (12 of its stories, about 4 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 17 Jan. The big dot is this day; the shaded band is a normal day (the 30 days before it). Click a day to open it. Based on 18,337 stories about harm among 66,959 counted on 17 Jan.
On the side of help, reports of people freed or reunited ran at about 4 times the usual rate. Stories about people being harmed made up 27 in every 100 of the day's 66,959 stories, below the usual 29. Reports of abductions ran at about 5 times the usual rate, most often about the US and the UK. For the third day running, the news turned to Tonga. A year earlier, on 17 January 2021, 29 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 27 today.
Written by code from the day's numbers.
Countries with at least 50 stories that day.
Stories, not people.
The day's biggest events: attacks, accidents and disasters, people displaced, protests, outbreaks. Bigger dot: more stories. Ranked by the share of the day's outlets that reported it and how clearly it was about one thing, the same way for every place and year; the news data does not say who attacked whom, so both sides of a war appear where the news put them. Click a dot for its stories.
Of the stories about people being harmed, what part of life each was about. The mark is usual.
Stories that report it, not people: we count what reporters wrote, not what happened.
The words in the day's stories were about as usual. Filled dot: today. Ring: usual.
From the words reporters used across the whole day, never one story. Fear is the weakest of the four measures. How?
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